View full sizeNike recognized the 30th anniverary of its Air Force sneakers last December.Nike

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a ruling barring a smaller rival of Nike from suing the Swoosh to void the Oregon company's trademark for its Air Force 1 sneakers.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for a unanimous court that Nike's promise not to pursue an infringement lawsuit against Already LLC, maker of Yums sneakers, meant that the Texas company could not pursue its own trademark challenge, according to this Reuters story.

"In this case, the court considered whether Nike's promise not to sue was broad enough to assure that it would not assert a future claim against Already if it infringed on the same trademark in a different way, and whether Nike had the ability to avoid an attack on its trademark validity by making a promise like this. "

Gatto quotes Roberts' opinion:

Once Nike demonstrated that the covenant encompasses all of Already's allegedly unlawful conduct, it became incumbent on Already to indicate that it engages in or has sufficiently concrete plans to engage in activities that would arguably infringe Nike's trademark yet not be covered by the covenant. But Already failed to do so in the courts below or in this Court. The case is thus moot because the challenged conduct cannot reasonably be expected to recur.